Briefs

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No Omar Effendi stores for re-sale

THE SAUDI retailer Anwal Group will not sell any of its 90 per cent owned Omar Effendi branches, according to Hady Fahmy, chairman of the Holding company for trade and the owner of the remaining 10 per cent of Omar Effendi.

This came amid rumours that Anwal is restructuring 10 branches and preparing to sell, a move that pushed the Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieddin to send a letter to the owner of the company threatening to take legal action if the rumours were true, as this would constitute a violation of the sale conditions. The letter also criticised Anwal's reluctance to renovate the Omar Effendi branches, a main condition in the sale agreement.

A company statement responded to the letter by affirming that the renovation plans in the company's branches are going on and that they are working currently on automating the branches and connecting them by an electronic network.

Meanwhile it was revealed that the first phase of the company's early retirement programme announced on privatisation of the company is being implemented with 1,100 of the company employees getting their retirement cheques.

Omar Effendi, Egypt's largest department store chain, was sold to Anwal at the end of 2006 after four failed privatisation attempts since the early 1990s.

The sale deal raised a lot of controversy since the century-old Omar Effendi is considered a national icon. Anwal paid LE589.5 million in addition to promising to pump in LE180 million, representing 90 per cent of the LE200 million the Ministry of Investment said was needed to renovate some Omar Effendi stores. Anwal also assumes LE155 million worth of the company's liabilities and back taxes, in addition to paying LE50 million for early retirement of the company's employees.

Italian-Egyptian cooperation

LAST year's acquisition by Sanpaolo of 80 per cent of the Bank of Alexandria is perhaps the highest profile news concerning Italy's economic presence in Egypt. However , recently released figures showed that there are currently 407 other Italian companies with investments in Egypt, mainly concentrated in Alexandria and the Borg Al-Arab industrial zone.

Economic cooperation between the two countries was highlighted in two events taking place in Cairo earlier this week. The Strategic Egyptian Italian Partnership Conference highlighted the significance of Italian investments in certain sectors like textiles and ready-made garments and stressed potential cooperation in other sectors that each or both countries excel in like leather products, furniture, marble production and ceramics.

Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieddin pointed out that Italy supported Egypt as the first Arab country to be a partnership member in the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development. Moreover, it is currently providing Egypt with the necessary technical assistance to set up the country's first SME Stock Exchange.

Meanwhile, attendants of the Egyptian Italian Business Council meeting held on the same day were briefed on the role played by Italian investments in the local gas and oil sector. Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmy mentioned Eni, the Italian oil giant, as a clear example of successful Italian investments in Egypt.

Eni alone accounts for 30 per cent of production of foreign companies working in the sector. Eni is also a partner in the gas liquification project in Damietta governorate, a main source of natural gas exports